Floor panel for aircraft



May 7 '1940s G. E. KLooTE 2,199,938

FLOOR PANEL FOR AIRCRAFT G. E. KLooTE v2,199,938 FLOOR-PANEL FORAIRCRAFT Filed Feb. 10, 193 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Il, ff

Mig

mental Miav 7, 1940- to Haskelite Manufac poration of New York turing: Corporation, a cor- Application February 10, 1938, Serial No. 185,823

2 Claims.

Wood floors for aircraft, particularly through@- out compartments for passengers, are deemed so essential that, in order to secure such oors without adding too greatly tothe dead weight of the structures, resort is had to light hollow wood panels fabricated in such a manner as to provide the necessary strength and rigidity at a weight much lower than that of solid wood flooring.

The object of the present invention is soto construct pan'els of the aforesaid type thatthey shall be rugged and durable, efficient in use and of uniform quality, even though an indefinite number of panels are manufactured.

may be regarded as a novel panel; but, Asince the attainment of the desired structural characteristics depends largely on the proper fitting and CFI fitted between the plywood panels and overlapped by the marginal portions of the latter. Flooring of this type is usually supported on sills or beams forming part of the aircraft structure and so spaced apart from each other that the internal ribs in the flooring span the distance between the same. Thus the load 'on the flooring must be distributed from the ribs or light beams in the flooring to the sills or other supports underlying opposite marginal portions of the flooring. One of the objects ofthe present invention is 40 to insure that the transmission of theload from the ribs in the ooring to the .underlying supports will be done uniformly and to distribute the kfil load along the margins of the flooring instead of concentrating it at the rib ends.l 45 'Ihe only way inwhich the transmitted load individual ribs -is to fasten the rib ends firmly together by means of the adjacent frame members along the edges of the adjacent flooring members.

`One oi' the objects of the present `invention is to produce a simple and novel form of connection between the rib ends and the corresponding frame members, which insures a substantially perfect distribution ofthe load that is being In one of its aspects, the present inventionv invention, in another aspect, may be regarded as can be distributed beyond the regions of the supports.

The variousv features of novelty whereby my .invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for-a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the' following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: v. Figure 1 is a plan v iew of one of my improved flooring members or sections having a portion of the upper plywood facing broken away; Fig. 2 is a side view and Fig. 3 an end view of the panel shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectionon a larger scale, taken approximately on line 4 4 of Fig. l; Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, on the same scale. as Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a section, on the same scale as Figs. 4 and 5, on the staggered line yli-li of Fig. 4; Fig. 'l is a perspective View of one of the spacing blocks between ribs before being assembled inthe structure; Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one end'of one of the longitudinal frame members of the flooring; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a fragment of the flooring, on a much larger scale than the `preceding flgure's, parts being broken away to illustrate the interior construction; Fig. 10 is av plan view on the same scale as Fig. 1, illustrating the method of forming a grille of the ribs or ,light corebeams and spacing blocks; Fig. 11 is a section on line Il-ll of Fig. 10, but on a. larger scale; Fig. 12 is a section on line |2-I2 of Fig. 11, showing only a fragment of the grille afterv it has been glued together; Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12, showto iit against an L-shaped-longitudinal frame member that extends transversely of the ribs;

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Figs.' 12 and 13, showing the longitudinal frame member glued to the edge of -the grille; Fig. 15 is a view similar to Fig. 14,illustrating the structure after the face 'panels have been applied to the grille; and Figs. 16 and ,17 are two sectional views showing Vtwo modified forms of upper face panels.

Referring to Figs. `1 to 9 of thexdrawings, I and 2 represent light plywood panels bonded to .light beams or ribs 3 arranged between the same. In a typical iloorlng, the thickness of the structure as a whole may be about nine-slxteenths of an inch, and it may be somewhat more than sixteen transmitted from the flooring to thc underlying '35 ing the edge of the grille trimmed and shaped A inches wide, and three feet or more in length.

each adjacentfpair of ribs wood blocks having the grain of the wood running parallel with the yis subjected to shearing stresses and length of the ribs; these blocks being bonded to the ribs so as to form with the latter a continuous or solid body from one end of the flooring panel to the other. Y The outer ends of the spacing blocks and of the ribs are cut away to produce a step formation such asbest shown in Figs. A5 and 9;l this step formation fitting against and being bonded to a complementary formation on the adjacent longitudinal member of the frame 4. Thus, the blocks 5 serve notonly to space the ribs apart and -hold them against tilting, butl also as widened portions or anges on the ends of the ribs thathelp secure the ribs to the longitudinal frame member andl to dis-- tribute the load along the frame member, when it is transmitted from the ribs to the latter. There may be other spacing blocks E between the ribs at points remote from the ends, In the arrangement shown, there is a line or row of such blocks at about the longitudinal center of the ooring. `One of these blocks is shown in Fig. 7, which also illustrates the blocks 5 before they have been assembled in the grille and shaped as heretofore explained.

When the flooring is supported from beneath. adjacent to its longitudinal edges, and bears a load, the upper portions ofthe ribs tend to move lengthwise in one direction, and the lower portions of the ribstend to move in the'opposite direction, so that the middle portion of each rib must therefore be thick enough to resist them. In a nooring of this kind which is, say, nine-sixteenths of an inch thick, ribs of spruce, spaced an inch or an inch and one-eighth between centers, need not have a thickness greater than about onef to improve eighth of an inch. However, in order the bonding between the ribs and the face panels, I prefer to thicken the ribs along the top 'and bottom, thereby providing wide faces for engagement with the facing panels. the ribs are preferably I beams.

The facing's I and 2y may be variously constructed. Usually'the bottom facing is composed of two plies of wood veneer; the grain of the wood of the inner ply 1, as best shown in Fig. 9, being transverse to the ribs or light beams 3; while the grain of the undermost or outer ply is approximately parallel to the grain in the ribs. Thus, when the floor is loaded and the bottom facing is in tension, the stresses in the ply 8 are in the direction of the length of the bers. whereas the stresses in the ply 1 are crosswise of the,

fibers; thus giving to the floor a greater strength in bending than would be true if the directions of thegrains in the two plies 1 and 8 were inter' changed.l

When the flooring or panel is loaded, the upper facing is under compression. This facing may comprise three plies 9, I0 and II; the ply 9 lying between the other two, ordinarily being thicker than either of the others, and having its grain runningin the general direction of the length of theribs. The grain of the wood in the pli I0 'ply 0 and that Inv the ribs.

f mayhave 'a thickness of bonded to the three pl'ystructure.

,material as.

Vermiculite. The filling material, while providing heat insulation, has

' trated a sound absorbing In other words,

and II is transverse to since the ply II constitutes the wearing surface of the flooring, it consists .preferablyofa ample, birch. The' plies formed of .softer wood as, In the case'of a flooring panelhaving the thickness of the example heretofore given, the ply I 1, a,-s una n may be an inch, while the other four plies may all-be a.bout one forty-eighth or an men thick.

In Figs. 16 and 1'1 'are shown 'fragments of modified forms of top facing panels for the nooring to provide good wearing surfaces and also, in one case, some protection against nre. Thus.

in Fig. 16, the'upper facing panel just described has overlying the same and bondedvthereto 'a layer I2 of impregnated asbestos about one thirtysecond of an inch thick.

one sixtiethof an inch thick overlying and The empty spaces or compartments within the completed,- composite flooring panel may be filledl with any suitable, lightweigh t sound deadening for example, kapok or expanded the more important of absorbing sound waves and 4 ando there is illus--l andl heat insulatins function, however, reducing noise. In Figs.

-filling material I5.

1t is very importan the longitudinal members I6 of the frame 4 be properly `bonded to the adjacent ends of the ribs or light beams. In order to secure uniformity of bonds, it is necessary thatthe ribs'be very accurately cut in order that they may be of the Asame lengths. While it is not impossible to secure exact uniformity of length throughout ait is a diillcult and tedious satisfactory grille-like core large number of ribs, matter to build up a based on accurately preformed ribs. therefore devisedl a novel method wherebyl the desired results are achieved in a very simple way. l Instead of attempting extreme accuracy in the- I lemploy ribs that are them may be initial lengths of the ribs, suiliciently long, althoughvsome of slightly longerv than is necessary. The ribs with the spacing blocks 8 between the same, at the ends of the strips and at the middle or any other point or.points where spaces are desired, are then assembled as indicated in Figs. wand l1, on a suitable table'A, a suitable adhesive having been applied to the spacing blocks tov bond 'them to the ribs, and the assembly together until the blocks: and the ribs have become bonded to each other. While the end'members I1 of the frame 4 may serve as ribs, the construction of the frame may be such that these In the arrangement shown, .the Aledge Bis stationary. and the ledge C is adjustable and is` adapted to press the assembly toward the stationary ledge.- If the bars I1 have fiat inner faces, the spacing blocks that engage with the Vclamping ledges should have flat faces engaging with'the latter.; such blocks being shown at 8a In Fig.v 11. 1 v

Afterk the ribs and the spacers have been bonded together, the grille has the appearance that-m the intermediateis then clamped hard wood as,'for exfor example. poplar.

one twenty-eighth of m mg. n therev is a layer of tough fiber board somewhat less than Y thatwhatmaybecalled' I have rails is then trimmed as Fig. 12 have the more or less L-shapedsection ends of the' ribs, thus bringing found in the blocks 5 in Fig. 13.- In cutting away portions of the blocks 5, correspondingexcisions are, of course, madein the'extreme ends of the ribs, so' that each longitudinal edge of the grille contains a deep rabbet cut into theunder face of the grille and extending throughout theentire length of the structure; this rabbetgiving a step formation to the longitudinal edges of the grille. It will be seen that it is a simple matter to machine the longitudinal edges of, the grille very accurately. to give them this step formation, so that edges which are perfectly straight throughout their lengths are easily obtainable. It is then only amatter of shaping the longitudinal bars I8 of the frame 4 so as to provide them with edgev contours complementary to the edge contours of the grille. After this has been done, the parts of the frame, including the bars I6, are assembled as a border for the grille; the meeting edge faces of the grille and of the bars I6 being bonded to' gether inv a suitable manner. The bars I5 are made thick enough in the plane of the floor panel, to permit some trimming thereof later.

After the grille, with its surrounding frame, has been completed, it is assembled with the two facing panels l and 2, as indicated in Fig. l5, with suitable adhesive material interposed between thefaces of the grille-like core and the facings, and the assembly is subjected to the proper conditions to aect a bonding together ofthe core 'and facings. The finished product is now a little wider than the width that It is therefore trimmed at tobring it to the right widt in Fig. 15, a little strip is sawed on" along each edge ofthe panel in the plane of the dotted Itwill thus be seen that all of the transverse dimensions of the panel or of the parts of which itis constructed, are produced by operations each ofgwhich acts throughout the entire length of the panel, instead of requiringmany operations each of. which determines the dimension of only a small part or element; Thus, extreme accuracy is secured quickly and with very little effort.

the panel is to have. each long edge so as It will be seen that the frame members or barsv I5 andthe cooperating rail members of the pregrid are so shaped that portions of thebars underlie the spacing blocksand also the into play the casuch stresses entirely on the rib to which that half is bonded.

- verse bending.

. Thus, as indicated edges, including the pacity of the `wood to resist shearing stresses,

when the floor is loaded, instead of imposing bonds between the frame members I6 and the grille,

Since the blocks 5 are bonded rmly to the ribs and have their .grain running inthe same direction as the granin the ribs, the blocks in effect form flanges or lateral extensions of the ribs themselves and transmit the load from the ribs to'the frame members I6 just as though one-half of each block were integral with One of the valuable characteristics of my improved flooring is that it stands up admirably under concentrated loads suchas are imposed, .for example, by the weight borne by the usual small heel of a womans shoe. Such concentrated loads tend to bend the panel sharply crosswise of the ribs. In the present construction. the plywood facing panels serve to distribute such loads between a number of ribs, this eifect being` increased by the fact that `each rib has wide faces bonded to the racing panels; the I section l i of the ribs causing themto be very still in trans- I claim: I H I l 1. A compound hollow floor panel comprising a flat core composed of parallel wood ribs in which -the grain runs lengthwise, wide, short wood spacing blocks closing the gaps between and bonded to the ribs at their ends so as to secure all of the ribs together, the grain of the wood inthe spacing blocks extending in thesame general direction as that in the ribs; the ribs and the spacing blocks being cut away on the vunder sides thereof to form deep rabbets along the longitudinal edges of the core, and bars 'of wood fitting against the end faces of the ribs and blocks and having portions tting in and filling said rabbets, the bars, ribs and blocks being bonded together; and facing panels of plywood bonded to the broad faces of the core.

2. A hollow wood floor panel comprising a fia core member composed of parallel wood ribs4 I-shaped inA cross` section, in which the grain runs lengthwise, spaced apart at their upper and lower'chords, short, wide wood spacers closing the gaps between and bonded to the ribs rat their ends so as to secure all of them together, the grain of the wood in thespacers extending in the same general direction asthat in the ribs, the tops and bottoms of the spacers being ush with the upper and lower GEORGE E. -mJOOTE ribs containing surfaces surfaces, respectively,l of the ribs the edges ofthe core member extending general .direction as the.

the 

